I have somewhat of a history with this book in that I many times almost read it. Back when it was regularly available in Dutch stores I almost bought it a few times, I almost asked it for my birthday, I almost borrowed it from the library. But now, over a decade later, I'm finally actually taking a look at it. Spoilers ahead.
A boy named Nat adopts a new dog, which he thinks to be a German shepherd mix, whom he names Woody. But one day he finds his dog missing and in its place a boy. Turns out that Woody is a Wolven: a wolf-like creature that can turn into a human. Nat and Woody quickly befriend one another and try to navigate their lives while keeping Woody's secret. But that's not easy, especially when it turns out a ravenous werewolf and a government facility are trying to hunt down Woody to experiment on him.
Is it a great book? Eh, I wouldn't say that. But I did enjoy myself reading it. This book for sure has some strong elements in it, but also a few that work against it.
One thing I do think is really good is the characters, at least the main ones we're supposed to like. Nat made for a great, enjoyable protagonist and Woody was a nice deuteragonist. Their friendship feels real and tangible and they played off of each other very well throughout the story. There's also some enjoyable side characters, such as a helpful witch, the werewolf singer of a band who wants to help Woody, and Nat's grandparents.
The world-building is also pretty intricate and rather interesting. It even has some ties to real history, during the medieval ages, so it definitely felt well thought-out and I really enjoyed learning more about the Wolven alongside Nat and Woody. There's even a time traveling scene which I feared was going to be a bit cringe-worthy, but it was handled well.
Where I wasn't as fond of the story was regarding the main villains and the plot of the government trying to hunt Woody down. Aside from this part feeling pretty cliché, the villain characters were just not well-written and felt about as bland and stale and stereotypical as over the top villains go. There's no nuance to them, they're not interesting. They're just villains and nothing more. Which I think is a shame because villains can be very interesting characters, especially if they have a decent amount of nuance or backstory to them. But the main villains on display here (the evil werewolf and the leader of the government facility) were neither interesting nor nuanced nor memorable. I can't even remember their names to be frank.
There is also a rather harsh scene where one of our hero characters kills a bunch of werewolves who escaped from the government facility and just feels kind of...tonally weird? Because most of the story is about Woody coming to terms with who he is, and showing that not all werewolves, even though some of them are villains, are bad. And that there is quite a bit of prejudice against them out there.
But then one of the heroic characters (Woody's former owner) suddenly decides to kill a bunch of werewolves which escaped and nobody's really batting an eye, which feels harsh and also tonally inconsistent. The reason they say they have to do this is because supposedly once a werewolf tastes human blood or flesh it becomes unsalvageable and wild, and the only solution is to put it down. But like, we never even see the characters attempting to approach these werewolves or figure out if this theory is really true.
The werewolves are all killed without a moment's warning and nobody really seems to give much of a shit. Which just doesn't sit well with the tone of the rest of the book. Also for a children's book that's quite a harsh ending for these characters, especially when nobody in particular seems to bat an eye or question our heroes for not even giving the werewolves a chance. This scene just didn't really sit right with me.
Overall this is still a great book though, and the characters and world-building and interactions of the characters definitely make it worth to give this a read. Just know that the main conflict regarding the government facility is a bit less interesting and the villains are rather one-note.
Rating: 4/5
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